English Translation

Abu al-Yaman told us, saying: Isma'il ibn Ayyash told us, from Yahya ibn Abi Amr al-Saybani, from Abu Sallam al-Dimashqi and Amr ibn Abdullah, that they both heard Abu Umamah al-Bahili narrate the hadith of Amr ibn Abasah al-Sulami, who said: "I turned away from the gods of my people in the Age of Ignorance" — and he mentioned the hadith — he said: "So I asked about him (the Prophet) and found him concealing his affair, so I acted discreetly toward him until I got in to see him, and I greeted him and said to him, 'What are you?' He said, 'A prophet.' I said, 'And what is a prophet?' He said, 'A messenger of Allah.' I said, 'And who sent you?' He said, 'Allah, Mighty and Majestic.' I said, 'With what did He send you?' He said, 'That the ties of kinship be joined, that bloodshed be forbidden, that the roads be made safe, that idols be broken, and that Allah alone be worshipped, nothing associated with Him.' I said, 'Excellent is that with which He sent you! I bear witness that I have believed in you and testified you true — shall I stay with you, or what do you advise?' He said, 'You see the people's aversion to what I have brought; so stay among your people, and when you hear that I have come forth to my place (of emergence), come to me.'" And he mentioned the hadith.